The Princess and the Pauper
by neo-chan7
Summary: Natalya, the princess of Russia, is forced to marry Wang Yao, the emperor of China. Her kind tutor, Alfred, takes her out to the village where she meets Anya, a Russian women who works in a dress shop. Unknown to anyone, Ivan, the royal advisor, is plotting his takeover on Russia. Can the two look alikes work together to stop him? And will true love win in the end?
1. Prologue

_Once, in the country of Russia, a miracle happened, at the very same moment, two identical baby girls were born. The first girl was a baby princess. The kind and queen were over joyed. Princess Natalya would have only the finest. The other was named Anya, her mother and father loved her every bit as much as the king and queen loved the princess. But they worried, they were so poor, how would they be able to care for their little daughter?_

_Many years passed . . . The princess learned her royal duties by her tutor from America named Alfred F. Jones. While Anya worked long and hard in a dress shop for a very unkind boss, but yet with a very kind, Hungarian assistant named Elizaveta. With lives so different, it wasn't surprising that the princess and the pauper never met. But fate made it that they would . . . ._

_One day, Queen Katyusha went out to the royal mines to check up on the progress in there. But as the worker emerged from the mines, they had bad news: the gold had run out! The widowed queen was shocked. The country was now bankrupted. How was she gonna take care of her people? If only she could reach out to her most trusted advisor Ivan Branginsky, but he was away on a long journey. She had to do something to help her country, but what? And then it struck her, in the nearby country, China, there was a rich young emperor who was seeking a wife._

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**I know I should be working on my other uncompleted fanfic, but writers block is just so cruel and this came to me at night, so i had to! anyways, hope my readers enjoyed the prologue, don't worry future chapters will be longer.  
(and a warning, characters will be OOC!)**


	2. Chapter I

_With Natalya . . ._

Everyone in the castle was bustling and working hard and quickly to prepare for the emperor's coming. Natalya on the other hand would rather sit in her library and read books all day then have lessons and get fittings for her wedding dress. One rare moment that she was able to have for herself, she walked out to the balcony of her room and just stared out into the garden, how she missed those days when she was younger, when she had just a little bit more freedom and would walk through the tall sunflowers, her favorite flower.

_Oh how I wish for just one day all to me,_ she thought, _no lessons, no one to tell you when to eat or leave or stay or how to live your life. _

She looked up to the sky. _What would it be like to be free? Free to try crazy things, free to do whatever you want._ She looked back down to the garden, this time she saw her tutor, Alfred F. Jones, in the garden examining some flowers bushes. She blushed slightly, over the years of being taught by Alfred, her feelings had grown for him. At first she had tried to push them away, but his constant kindness towards her caught her heart, and she just knew that she was in love, no matter how much she wanted to deny it.

"If I were free," she said outloud, leaning against the railing of the balcony and keeping her eyes on Alfred, "I could marry whom I choose."

"I'm sorry my dear," a voice said behind her. Natalya turned around and saw her mother, Queen Katyusha. She was a widow due to the king dying of a infection.

"But it's vital that you marry Emperor Wang Yao, it is the only way to save our people."

Natalya hung her head slightly, "I know, it's my duty." Katyusha smiled and gave her daughter a kiss on theforehead before leaving to attend the preparations. Natalya stared out into the nearby village and sighed deeply.

_What would it be like to be free . . .?_

_With Anya . . ._

It was busy as usual in the dress shop. Anya scurried around the room, getting fabrics, clearing tables, and helping Elizaveta with anything. As she worked on a dress, she couldn't help but to look out the window which showed the mountains. Oh how she wished she could escape all this and travel Asia. She especially wished to see China.

_Oh how I wish I could have one day all to myself. Not having to wake up with all this work waiting for me. A day without IOU's, uncompleted dresses that need mends and stitchings to be done._

A firm hit to her head knocked Anya out of her daydreams.

"Hey! Back to work! I'm not paying you to be off into the clouds!" her boss said strictly as she went to the front of the shop to see to the customers.

"Tch, if I was free, I would be able to go wherever I wanted to in Asia," Anya said outloud to herself.

"Heh, can I come along?" Elizaveta said playfully from her work station.

"Of course!" Anya said back with a smile. But she looked back to the mountains with a sad sigh, knowing that her dream of traveling would never come true.

_What would it be like to be free?_


	3. Chapter II

Late one night, not known by anyone, deep within the mines, three, trembling young men dug through the rocks and dirt for any gold they might have left behind with their pickaxes. They all were from different countries, having been "picked up" by their master Ivan on some of his trips. ("forced to join" is the more appropriate phrase). Toris Lovinaitis was a Lithuanian man, the second oldest of the group and most favored by Ivan (not in a good way though). The oldest was a Estonian man named Eduard Vonbock, he was also the most intelligent of the three and didn't fear Ivan as much as the other two, but he was still afraid of him. And little Raivis Galante was the youngest, being in his teen years, a boy from Latvia who feared Ivan the most. The three swung their pickaxes hard and quick against the hard rock, wanting to get this over-with as soon as possible. Taking a quick break to rest his arms and back, Eduard went over to the mine-cart and looked inside to see what they managed to dig up. Inside was only a piece of gold the size of a small stone and a huge, oval shaped rock.

Picking the rock out, he called to the other two.

"Toris! Raivis! Who was the one to put this in the cart?" Toris looked over at Raivis, not having done the deed himself. Raivis began to tremble, "Oh . . . that would be me . . ." he said in his small voice. Eduard facepalmed.

"Raivis, let's review shall we? We are stealing gold. Is this shiny?"

"No."

"Valuable?"

"No."

"GONNA MAKE IVAN HAPPY!?"

"N-n-n-no."

Eduard sighed and threw the stone away.

"Please focus Raivis, our lives are in his hands, literally! You really need focus . . . that and a brain," he mumbled the last part to himself. As they went back to work, the sound of someone approaching was heard. Fearing that it could be a guard or something, the three blew out the lanterns and somehow managed to hide in one mine-cart. Footsteps were heard coming closer to the cart.

"Toris, Eduard, Raivis, привет," and familiar voice greeted in Russian. They sat up in the cart. There was their boss Ivan, smiling his childish smile and holding a lantern, looking down at them.

"Oh, I-I-Ivan s-s-s-sir," Eduard managed to say, "you're here . . . early . . . We hope you had a nice journey." Toris and Raivis nodded their heads quickly, showing that they hoped as well.

"Oh it was nice," Ivan held out his hand, "what have you managed to collect this time?"

"Oh! Uh," Eduard found the one gold piece and held it out to Ivan, "here you are sir, the last of the gold from the royal mine. There's nothing left."

Ivan took the gold and inspected it, a small grin grew across his face.

"Heh, of course there isn't any left, cause it's all mine. Very much mine, finally." He tucked the gold inside his coat. The first step in his plan was done. Ivan Braginsky was the royal advisor to the Queen. When the king was around, he wasn't need much, for the king always made very wise choices. After a few years, Ivan couldn't take it and killed the king himself without anyone knowing by poisoning his food and making his illness appear accidental. When the king passed, Queen Katyusha came to him more and more often. Ivan then knew what he wanted, he wanted to be king himself. So he robbed the mines of the gold it had, and he'd present the riches he's collected to the queen and ask for Princess Natalya's hand in marriage in exchange for helping the kingdom get back on its' feet.

"Oh little Natalya will soon become one with me," he said while gazing at a lantern's glow. The trembling trio were giving eachother glances, saying that there must be something said. Toris gathered his courage and spoke up, "Um right, there's just one little problem Ivan."

"That's PRINCE Ivan to you!"

"Y-y-y-yes o-o-of course. But you see . . . . the queen has arranged for the princess to be married to the emperor of China next week."

Anger flashed in Ivan's eyes, seeing as his plan was ruined by this emperor and all the planning he's been doing all these years were going to waste.

"ЧТО? Making a decision without me!?" he yelled angrily as he approached the trio who were backing away from him. Raivis reacted last, and was caught by Ivan. Ivan grabbed Raivis by the head and squeezed hard, letting his anger out.

"Who does she think she is?" he growled.

"U-u-uh . . . th-the qu-qu-queen?" Raivis said. His comment made

Ivan squeeze harder.

"Молчать!" Ivan threw Raivis to the ground and paced back and forth, trying to think up of something to fix this little setback. Toris and

Eduard helped Raivis up.

"Why did you say that!?" Toris asked.

"Well . . . she IS the queen . . . she's got a crown and sits in the big fancy chair . . ." Eduard facepalmed again, "Idioot," he mumbled under his breath.

"No! I wont let this get in the way! There's got to be something . . . ." The trio watched him nervously, until Ivan stopped.

"Wait! That's it!"

"Wh-what's it?" Toris asked.

"Heh, suppose the princess goes missing? Then there can't be a royal wedding, so the emperor will have no choice but to leave. And then I'll bring her back, and queen will be so grateful, she'll just have to give her daughter to me!"

"Kidnap the princess!?" the three said in unsion.

"Da, and I know the perfect bait for a trap," Ivan said, eyeing Raivis.

"Uhhhhh . . . . sir? Why are you looking at me?" Raivis asked, trembling violently.

"Oh you'll see," Ivan said in an innocent tone and flashing his childlike smile.

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**Man Ivan's OOC in this one XD but i hope my readers enjoyed! ^.^**

**Translations: привет-hello, ЧТО-WHAT, Молчать-Silence**


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